How to Clean Your Home When You Have Little's

When my kids were little, cleaning needed to happen but it couldn't take all day. I thought I would share a bit on how I survived then.

Declutter.

Be simple.

So easy to say yet I know it isn't always easy to do. When my oldest was 5, we moved from a 2000 square foot house in Utah, to a 4000 square foot house in Idaho. Space doesn't help a ton, decluttering does! You still have to find a home for the stuff. Sure, that was a great house, I had a craft/sewing room, we had a guest room, a giant master... it didn't last. It was too much for me to handle, I felt like I was living too spread out and I didn't care to buy more furniture to fix it. Then we moved to a 1200 square foot 1900's house. I LOVED that house! That is the house that I remember doing the most cleaning - the most growing in. I spent some time in that house single after my divorce, before moving into a 600 square foot apartment. 

How do you do it? 

Be simple.

PLAN.  I know that is my answer to everything. I do live in the moment. I do fly by the seat of my pants. But I also always have a good plan. I will admit to being a tad controlling on some issues... 

Laundry:
I used the FlyLady system until I made a Melisa system that worked better. Most families do laundry once or twice a week. I determined how many loads needed to be done and then worked it into my daily rhythm.  

Get up.
Start wash.
Dry.
Wake kids.
Eat.
Fold & reload.
The laundry was a family affair. The little ones helped. In those days, we had time to go slower, sing through the laundry, play kick ball while hanging clothes on the line.

Dishes:
Always done right after the meal.
Two houses had no dishwasher so doing dishes after each meal could be a challenge, but it was a great builder of the will. I would fill up one bowl with sudsy water next to me and my youngest would pretend to wash - and sometimes wash the silverware, while the bigger boys would dry.

General clean up:
This is a job that belongs to everyone.
When they were young, we moved room to room working together to get the job done. We did it a few times a day and would generally time it around a snack or outing. So I might say... "the snack fairies are waiting! Let's hurry and get this house tidy. Whose room is first?" Then they would jump up and down begging me to clean their room first. We were often done in no time.

Sure, there were times when they didn't want to play along, but for the most part when they were little, it wasn't a big deal. As they began to grow and gave me dirty looks at the mention of the snack fairies, I would kindly remind them that they could clean alone.

We could clean the bathroom just as quickly, each person takes a job.

As they grew up a bit and have  assigned chores. I have gone back and forth on paying allowance... and they have each worked for me in a different way to earn pay such as babysitting, yard work to helping on business tasks. 

Make them an apprentice!  
A kitchen apprentice,
a laundry apprentice,
a floors apprentice.
It is all good training for the time when the child will have their own chore.

You may enjoy this post "The Mood of the Waldorf Home".

Need support? Join our Thinking, Feeling, Willing program here.